The Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) has announced an update to their long-standing policy on blood transfusions, allowing members to decide whether their own blood may be removed, stored, and later returned during medical procedures.
In a video statement released on their website on Friday, a member of the JW’s governing body, Gerrit Lösch, said the clarification reflects the need for personal decision-making in matters involving a patient’s own blood.
He noted that the denomination’s long-standing position against the transfusion of donated blood remains unchanged, as members are still expected to “abstain from blood” based on biblical teachings.
Last December a Lagos-based breast cancer patient and member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mensah Omolola, popularly known on X as Auntie Esther, was reported dead after rejecting a medically advised blood transfusion.
The 38-year-old was receiving treatment at the Lakeshore Cancer Centre, Lagos, before declining the procedure on religious grounds. Her ordeal attracted widespread public attention, particularly after Nigerians donated over N30 million towards her treatment.
The fundraising effort was largely coordinated by charity advocate Wisdom Obi-Dickson, popularly known on X as #Wizarab10, who disclosed that N30.7 million had been raised as of 1 December 2025.
The Punch reported that her church had warned Mensah of possible disciplinary measures, including disfellowship, if she accepted a blood transfusion.
Doctors were said to have presented her with two options: a treatment plan involving transfusion, which the donated funds covered, or a more expensive and prolonged alternative that avoided blood transfusion. She chose the latter, in keeping with her religious convictions.
JW has now come up with a doctrinal clarification that allows individual discretion in life-saving treatments. While allowing embers to decide on the use of their own blood in medical care, it maintained that the ban on donor transfusions remains in place.
According to the religious organisation, while scriptural directives guide its rejection of transfused blood, the Bible does not specifically address the use of a person’s own blood in medical and surgical care.
The organisation said this has informed its updated position, emphasising that individual members must decide how their own blood is handled — including whether it can be stored and reinfused during treatment.
Jehovah’s Witnesses maintained that the collective doctrine on abstaining from blood remains binding, stressing that decisions involving personal medical care — particularly the use of one’s own blood — are left to individual members after prayer and consideration of biblical principles.
